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My wife wants to know that when I do my John Muir Trail trek starting on 7/26/2016 I've not fallen down and can't get up, or been eaten by a bear...
So, I've been building my DIY "SpotMe" Iridium Network-based GPS-Satellite Comm device.
I've gotten to the basic level of communication; It reports my position on a regular basis (the following is from a morning conditioning hike).
To my surprise, when I set the deconstructed system up on my kitchen table, it managed to both get a GPS fix AND successfully transmit the data to an Iridium satellite. Given that there is really no "sky" visible from my kitchen, a better than expected performance!
Why build it when I could buy similar? Well, why not??? Similar to Dave Jones' "take it apart" I'm a firm believer in DIY to figure out how something works, and can I make one...
Future travel plans: I do "Iron Butt" rides on my 2005 ST1300 - now with 175,000+ miles (there's no typo there, I've really driven that far on my bike...), and I'm planning to do 300 mile sections of the Pacific Crest Trail for the next 10 years. So, again, keeping the wife happy and "in the know." So, this will be something I plan to use on a regular basis over the next several years.
Once finished with the project I will publish all code, hex and design files for those who have an interest.
Finally, thanks to all who have helped me. Especially Robert Woodruff, yyrkoon, and Spirilis.
Bob
http://www.nursebobsblog.org - currently stale content, updates planned for after the hike and teaching again...
On 7/14/2016 at 09:01:47 PDT Bob was here: https://www.google.com/#q=%2B38.564295,-122.432641 -Aprx Elev.: 1676 ft On 7/14/2016 at 09:14:44 PDT Bob was here: https://www.google.com/#q=%2B38.572575,-122.428550 -Aprx Elev.: 1645 ft On 7/14/2016 at 09:25:53 PDT Bob was here: https://www.google.com/#q=%2B38.575296,-122.433725 -Aprx Elev.: 1644 ft On 7/14/2016 at 09:36:38 PDT Bob was here: https://www.google.com/#q=%2B38.580748,-122.431888 -Aprx Elev.: 1784 ft On 7/14/2016 at 09:50:50 PDT Bob was here: https://www.google.com/#q=%2B38.582575,-122.431873 -Aprx Elev.: 1743 ft On 7/14/2016 at 10:05:25 PDT Bob was here: https://www.google.com/#q=%2B38.574358,-122.427476 -Aprx Elev.: 1564 ft On 7/14/2016 at 10:16:14 PDT Bob was here: https://www.google.com/#q=%2B38.569375,-122.423606 -Aprx Elev.: 1740 ft No visible sky, from inside my kitchen: On 7/14/2016 at 11:34:57 PDT Bob was here: https://www.google.com/#q=%2B38.539415,-122.471001 -Aprx Elev.: 593 ft